Lorre White, “The Luxury Guru” defines luxury as a “quality of life”, not simply amassing quantity “ It is an enlightened approach to living”.. Private jets to Perfume, Yoga to Yachts, Exotic car to Candle, Watches to Wines ….Lorre is the expert on all things luxury! Reaching the UHNW, Luxury Influencer Lorre White's blog ranked #3 Globally for Luxury Blogs in 2015 Brand Passion Report for Global Luxury Brands by NetBase & #1 of the blogs that reach the wealthy customer.
* A Luxury Expert on TV, Radio & Web - CNN.MONEY, ABC, NBC. FOX NATIONAL, and in magazines globally
* Wrote a monthly column in Portugal's #1 rated Luxury Magazine DNLife w/ over 1.2 million subscribers
* Only internationally recognized Luxury Media Personality.
* Has an extensive social media reach. Owns THE LUXURY CHANNEL Video podcasts on iTunes & Zune
* An international luxury marketing consultant for elite brands and owner of White Light Consulting
* This blog is read by the Ultra High Net Worth and the luxury brands trying to reach that demographic
* Lorre White is highly networked and connected in the world of luxury
* Contributes to business & Luxury magazines globally.
* A member of Who's Who In America for contribution to the American Luxury Market & as a Luxury Personality.
Lorre White is a member of several private invitatition only networks like A Small World, SQUA.RE, Total Prestige, Qube, eVelvet Rope, Diane Fey, LStyle, EuroCircle, Internations, Global Urbanities, Hampton undercover, and other.....
Luxury Marketing Advice
"If a luxury brand asks whether they should spend scarce funds on opening another store, launching a print advertising campaign, or investing in a great website and online advertising, the Internet wins every time as the fastest, cheapest, and most effective way to leverage a luxury brand in today's global marketplace". CEO Milton Pedraza, The Oct issue Wealth Report by the Luxury Index
Lorre shopping at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome
Travel
Lorre on her way to a party in Monaco
About the Luxury Channel
The Luxury Channel video podcasts offers sponsors a sophisticated web media reach for elite brands to reach a wealthy demographic world wide by a respected luxury expert. This allows these brands to benefit from the most powerful and fastest growing media source, the web. Americans use the internet to shop twice as much as the average individual. People spend more time on the web then in front of the TV. A recent study done by The Luxury Institute found that Luxury consumers were disappointed in the weakness of luxury brands to meet their on line needs. Luxury brands were slow to enter fearing affiliation with the mass marketers and an inability to supply “the luxury experience”. The purpose of The Luxury Channel is to bring a luxury venue to the web where elite brands can have an appropriate environment to share their product knowledge and services in a sophisticated global reach. By all the brands sharing one venue it saves companies millions of dollars by having to establish their own channel from scratch and creating and producing content and paying to market their channel against all the other thousands of luxury brand’s channels. Any commercial agency can create a product video for a company, but with The Luxury Guru you get the video and a way to distribute it internationally.
Sports
Lorre toasts US Basketball Olympic teammember Grant Hill at their gold medal awards ceremony afterparty
New York tops the list of must-visit places for a good reason. The city is a heady combination of 24-hour commerce, fascinating history and cutting-edge culture. Sunny and hot through to October, the city then turns into a winter wonderland by Christmas. Whenever you go, here’s our guide to a positive trip to the Big Apple.
Where to Stay
Our pick of New York’s many luxe hotel retreats is the Peninsula. Perfectly situated on Fifth Avenue and 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, the 112-year-old institution is right in the heart of the city’s best shopping and entertainment district.
It’s within strolling distance of Central Park, the Rockefeller Center and Broadway, but if you’re all walked out, make use of the complimentary Mini Coopers the hotel provides to guests – ideal for a day trip out of Manhattan.
What to Do
Central Park is Manhattan’s iconic green centre, running down the length of the island. Impossible to miss, pick a few areas (like Strawberry Fields) to explore. The High Line is another outdoor must-visit, a public park built on a historic freight rail line it runs above the streets on Manhattan’s West Side. Take a stroll and enjoy the leafy, elevated views over the city, or grab a spot on one of the many viewpoints with a coffee and a book.
New York City is probably the most famous shopping destination in the world, with something out there for everyone. A must visit for any beauty fan is Kiehl’s flagship store, found in the East Village it’s on the site of its original apothecary that opened in 1851. The legendary New York department stores should also be on your list – pop along to Saks Fifth Avenue to discover a world of luxury fashion, including brand to trust Gabriela Hearst.
The world-class museums also make the city a haven for the culturally curious. MOMA is our favourite for iconic contemporary art, not to mention the stunning architecture and great people-watching too. Or make a trip to the Met’s Costume Institute to explore its incredible collection of historical fashion.
Where to Eat
NYC’s always-evolving food scene is notoriously innovative. For a quick, yet healthy meal during a busy day head to Eat by Chloe for vegan fast food – the Guac Burger is a favourite of ManRepeller!
For an evening treat, Blue Hill Farm has become renowned for its farm-to-table approach to fine dining. Choose the “Farmer’s Feast” for a six-course tasting menu that is inspired by the week’s harvest from local farms in New York and neighbouring Massachusetts.
What to Wear
For a day of urban exploring, pair a statement tee with a cute miniskirt – a practical outfit that has just the right amount of edge. Throw on a classic biker jacket and choose a stylish backpack for carrying those everyday essentials.
Come evening, opt for paper-bag waist trousers and a sleeveless blouse for a fashion-forward outfit that is sure to turn heads. Balance out this tailored look with a feminine heeled sandal and you’re ready for a night of cocktails and fine dining in the city that never sleeps.
The world's most remarkable and innovative superyachts from across the globe have been revealed.
They are the champions of Boat International Media's World Superyacht Awards 2017 – and they include the £350million Dilbar, which the UK-based magazine described as 'the most complex and challenging motor yacht ever to be built' and 'the largest in gross tonnes (gt)'.
She won the highly coveted Motor Yacht of the Year award.
Stewart Campbell, Editor at Boat International Media, said: 'The World Superyacht Awards celebrate the best of the best. We're very proud that we have built such a well-renowned platform that rewards truly exceptional yacht owners and shipyards from around the globe.
'Each year we see a staggering number of outstanding entries, making the panel's job even harder. 2017 was no different.'
Scroll down to view the boats that picked up the gongs this year, from a £700million yacht with an outdoor cinema to a boat described as 'a summer house on the sea'.
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This is Cloudbreak, winner of the Displacement Motor Yachts of between 1,500gt and 2,999gt category. Boat International Media said: 'Built by Abeking & Rasmussen, [she] immediately stood out to the panel of judges for her unique purpose as an explorer-style vessel tailored to the owner's wish to practise adventure sports on land and at sea at both low and high latitudes around the world. This bespoke yacht was designed to support mountaineering, hiking and snow sports, with feature highlights including a fully equipped ski-room that would not be out of place in the French Alps, along with certified helicopter facilities. The militaristic exterior design and interior layout make this yacht very special and a deserving winner'
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Pictured is the £350million Dilbar, the overall winner. Boat International Media said: 'Lurssen's Dilbar, which is not only the most complex and challenging motor yacht ever to be built, but also the largest in gross tonnes (gt), was the winner of the Displacement Motor Yacht of 3,000gt and above. The ten judges who visited this enormous yacht unanimously agreed that not only did she qualify for a trophy in this category, but that she was also the most spectacular yacht they had ever seen. Dilbar's 180 cubic metre swimming pool is the largest on any yacht, while her 30,000kw diesel electric power plant is also understood to be a record for a superyacht and gives her a cruising speed of 22.5 knots'
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Aquila (pictured), formerly known as Cakewalk, immediately caught the eye of the judges. She won the Refitted Yachts award
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Otam’s Gipsy, pictured, took home the award in the Semi-Displacement or Planing Motor Yachts of 34-metres to 39.9-metres category. 'The judges,' Boat International Media said, 'were drawn to her clean no nonsense exterior lines and the highly practical optimisation of exterior space. A more detailed examination of the yacht revealed a thoughtfully laid out interior that positions the dining area forward on the main deck, and a saloon which incorporates a movie theatre. Throughout Gipsy, contemporary art is integrated with the interior design'
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Motor yacht Joy’s 'dynamic looks, forward-thinking design and excellence of construction by Feadship allowed her to stand out from the stiff competition in the Displacement Motor Yachts of between 500gt and 1,499gt category'. The yacht’s 'scalloped surfaces – a huge challenge to construct – were praised by the judges', Boat International Media explained, along with her 'spacious decks and full height sliding glass panels', giving her a 'strikingly modern look'
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The 32.3m Botti, pictured, designed as a raised pilothouse and built by Monte Carlo Yachts, was ultimately chosen as the winner of the Semi-Displacement or Planing Motor Yachts of 30-metres to 33.9-metres class
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The Semi-Displacement or Planing Motor Yachts 50-metres and above award went to the £700million Galactica Super Nova, pictured. Boat International Media said: 'Stand-out features on Galactica Super Nova include a nine-metre-square cinema screen, which is fitted with night-time lighting so that it can easily transform from an outdoor cinema to a superyacht night club. Overall, the judges were impressed with her high-quality build, enviable appearance and superb facilities'
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The Semi-Displacement or Planing Motor Yachts of 40-metres to 49.9-metres class tested the judges’ analytical skills, with every entry heavily scrutinised. Another Heesen Yachts’ build, Amore Mio, pictured, ascended as the panel’s favourite, said Boat International Media. The judges were impressed by the versatility of the vessel, which combines a unique ‘summer house on the sea’ design with excellent technical capabilities, including the possibility to cleverly deploy life preservers at the push of a button. Her toy box is ample, with everything from Seadoos, flyboards and high-flying towables, to stand-up paddle boards
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The Voyager’s Award, which honours the most daring and inspiring expeditions by a superyacht, went to the 49-metre Glaze, pictured, which is currently circumnavigating the world. The element of the cruise submitted to the panel of judges was in North West Australia, which features spectacular and rugged coastline. The intrepid cruise took the owners and their young family through poorly or totally unchartered inlets and rivers, allowing Glaze – whose builder is Trinity – to dip her bow in waterfalls tumbling down the vertical red cliffs and battle whirlpools and rapids
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The Displacement Motor Yachts of below 500gt – 30 metres to 42.9-metres award went to X, pictured. The well-constructed steel and aluminium vessel is powered by 970kW Caterpillar diesels, enabling her to travel at speed with a range necessary for her transoceanic role. Her superstructure has been shifted forward to leave plenty of space on the main deck for the storage of toys – ranging from a submarine and a seaplane, to sailing boats, Boat International Media said
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Narvalo, pictured, was deemed the rightful winner of the Judge’s Special Award for Quality and Value. This ‘pocket explorer yacht’, constructed by Cantiere delle Marche, combines sought-after characteristics with excellent value for money. She offers all the essential elements of an explorer, including long range, good autonomy, high internal volume and a sturdy well equipped tender, Boat International Media said. Narvalo also embodies the elements of a more traditional motor yacht, with well-sized cabins, an internal dining saloon and two lounges, as well as spacious well considered deck areas
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Baltic Yachts’ My Song, pictured, was awarded the trophy for Sailing Yacht of 30-metres to 39.9-metres. 'With an interior and exterior styled by Nauta Design, she’s packed with cutting edge design and technology and serves as a comfortable yet feature-filled cruising yacht,' said Boat International Media. She also performs well on the race course, the magazine said, regularly reaching 20-plus knots and boasting a top speed in excess of 30 knots in optimum conditions
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The Displacement Motor Yachts of below 500gt of 43-metres and above category is always hotly contested, with La Passion, pictured, emerging as the narrow winner. The judges were impressed by her seaworthiness and efficiency of the hull. The interior was designed by British design house Adam Lay Studio, who created on board guest spaces that match La Passion’s exterior. The resulting appearance was described as ‘clean simplicity’ and ‘elegantly modern’
Out of the four yachts that entered the Rebuilt Yachts category, the judges immediately agreed that Legend, pictured, stood out from the competition. It's a former Russian tug that's now a world-roaming expedition yacht. Very little of the original yacht was left intact aside from the hull, which was extended by 3.6m to incorporate a bathing platform and a 16-person swimming pool. Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the rebuild, carried out by Icon Yachts, was the installation of a fully classified helipad with refueling facilities
Musings Of An International Luxury Expert ~ Lorre White
Monaco Lifestyles Magazine is proud to finally be able to announce, starting in September, luxury expert Lorre White, “The Luxury Guru” will have her own column on page 3, in every glossy quarterly issue (March, June, September, December). Lorre will write about International events, luxury travels, exclusive products and services, yachts, private jets, or on anything that touches the world of our Ultra High Net Worth readers.
The exclusive hard copy magazines are distributed where wealthy readers congregate like Monaco Yacht Club, the luxury hotels of Monte Carlo like Hotel de Paris, Hotel Metropole, Hotel Hermitage, etc., the Monaco Polo Club, and to other elite luxury establishments in the region around Monaco. The glossy magazine with unique content, is supported by a more frequently updated web version http://www.monacolifestylemagazine.com/
“Monaco is symbolic of the epitome of the luxury lifestyle. I am excited to join the team of the media that bears the name of elite luxury, Monaco Lifestyle Magazine” says Lorre.
Michael Zamut editor of Monaco Lifestyles Magazine said „Lorre White is covering the needs of the uppermost segment of UHNWIs. Her blog ranked #1 for the super-rich, and #3 of all luxury blogs globally. If you don’t know of Lorre White, you’re probably not in the wealthier demographic. Her luxury column is just one more differentiater for our magazine that continues to strive, to better serve the needs of our unique readers.”
FORBES says “Lorre White has a following that includes Royals and Billionaires”
“A million people that cannot afford your product is of less brand value than one that can. In the luxury sector it is about who, not how many you reach.” says Lorre.
Lorre is an internationally recognized Luxury Media Personality and Influencer known as “The Luxury Guru” appearing in magazines, TV, radio and web. Lorre’s extensive media reach grew from her expertise in Luxury Marketing which is very different than the mass marketing taught at 99% of the universities. She is the owner of White Light Consulting, a luxury marketing company for elite brands that need to reach the world’s wealthiest demographic. Lorre's consulting clients include private jet, yacht, private banks, thoroughbred horses, luxury media, travel etc. Lorre orchestrated hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of corporate travel for global brands, including the league travel for the entire NBA, the NHL, and the MLB. Lorre was instrumental in launching the NBA’s own airline, where she escorted the NBA and US Olympic Dream Teams to events.
For billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway’s NetJets, and their partners Marquis Jets, Lorre was the Global Vice President of Sales & Marketing for the Boeing Business Jet division, where she created the M-Club for their wealthiest clients.
Lorre is a luxury industry keynote speaker. She is the Ambassador of Virginia wines to UK based magazine, Glass Of Bubbly’s, and to the #1 wine & dine web radio show, VinVillage. Lorre is also a Luxury Daily news columnist for luxury industry professionals. Her luxury blog www.LuxGuru.Typepad.com ranked #1 of the blogs that reach the wealthy customer in 2015 Brand Passion Report for Global Luxury Brands by NetBase.
“Lorre is unique because she has not only the respect of the luxury brands as a luxury marketer, but also has her own wealthy consumer following.“ says Michael Zamut. “We look forward to her first column in our September issue.”
You are invited to join her on her large social media reach: FaceBook (Personal, Public Figure and Group pages), LinkedIn (Personal, Business and Group pages), Twitter @Lorre, G+, Elixio, Ello and many private social media groups.
FLYING IS THE great perk of the modern world. Racing high over beautiful landscapes, catching epic sunrises, slicing through clouds, it’s an exquisite way to appreciate nature’s grandeur. And while you might not get to enjoy it—stuck in the middle seat in economy, craning your neck to see through that tiny porthole of a window—those who can afford airborne luxury have a better view. And thanks to Embraer, it’s about to get way, way better.
The Brazilian airplane manufacturer now offers spectacularly large windows in its $53 million Lineage 1000 business jet. The expansive glass—one window is the size of a standard plane door—bathes passengers in natural light and provides views perhaps rivaled only by the International Space Station’s observation window.
Embraer says it’s long been envious of the limitless features wealthy customers can put in their homes and superyachts, which don’t have to meet the aviation industry’s strict safety requirements. “I’ve always believed that we should be able to execute the customer’s dreams and passions in an airplane,” says Jay Beever, VP of interior design. “Customers are usually being told ‘no’ because of certification restrictions in airplanes.”
To liven up the interior of its Lineage line of business jets, based on its 190 regional jet, Embraer teamed up with superyacht designer Patrick Knowles. In addition to adding a two-person shower, they quickly agreed on doing something new with the windows. The result is the “Airship Kyoto” concept—a magnificently sun-filled aircraft that seems half made of glass. (The hypothetical customer is a Japanese businessman who might prefer sitting on the floor.)
And Beever says, any new Lineage 1000 customers who want those door-sized windows can have them. Actually making it real would be little more than a matter of punching a few new holes in the fuselage. Plane windows are typically small because they work against the airframe’s structural integrity, and because they add weight, which hurts fuel economy. (That’s why one company says we should fly in windlowless, screen-packed jets, and why Boeing was able to put larger windows in the weight-saving, composite 787 Dreamliner).
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But because the dimensions of Embraer’s mega window match those of a standard exit in a commercial airplane, the company’s engineers are just putting glass where they’d normally put a door. In fact, they’ve done this before: Embraer developed a version of the ERJ-145 regional jet for the Brazilian Coast Guard in the 1990s that had an observation window similar to this one. When it comes to structure, just put the window forward of the wing. “There’s a lot of stress and load on the wing during flight that extends through the fuselage and all the way back to the tail,” Beever says.
The new version of the window would use modern anti-fogging protection and electrochromic glass to allow tunable tint and shading of the multilayer window. Electric shades would completely block out the light when passengers are sleeping. Embraer might elect to 3D-print titanium installation hardware to keep the window’s weight down and to facilitate its integration into the airframe, Beever says.
The Lineage 1000 is based on a commercial aircraft, so it’s designed to meet the same durability requirements demanded of planes for the hoi polloi. That de facto compatibility means there’s a greater chance that one day, you might enjoy great views while aloft, even if you’re stuck in the middle seat. “We like our top technologies to filter across all of our products,” Beever says, adding that there’s a quality-of-life benefit to having huge windows, not just a luxury benefit. Just don’t expect that two-person shower.
Lucia Collection by Patricia Urquiola at 2015 Maison Objet
This year’s edition of the Maison et Objet fair in Paris featured several exceptional artistic collaboratons Hartô (Tomas Kral), Coedition (Patrick Jouin and Patricia Urquiola), Specimen Editions (Thinkk Studio and Studio 248), LCDA (Matali Crasset), Bernardaud (Marina Abramović) and Retegui with designer Sylvain Willenz.Considered collaborations were also in evidence at Brit brands Ercol, who have teamed with Paola Navone for their latest sofa and chair, at CTO Lighting who have paired with Stéphane Parmentier, and at London-based De La Espada who launched new pieces with collaborators Luca Nichetto, Autoban, Neri & Hu and Matthew Hilton
Eric Fischl, Art Fair: Booth #22 Evil Live (2013). Courtesy of the artist's website.
“If no one ever looked at art, would anybody even create it? And how much does art actually need buyers." Extremely reasonable questions put forth by the 2014 BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors, these queries appeared especially intriguing during the latest iteration of Art Basel in Miami Beach (ABMB). A positively gilded affair that looks increasingly beholden to a global art-as-asset aesthetic, this year's ABMB featured lots of shiny surfaces, stacks of joke paintings, and enough zombie abstraction to inspire several remakes of World War Z. The fair's thronged aisles of mostly uniform wares also sparked a few less politic questions. Among them: Who buys all this shit?
The answer, of course, is a growing connoisseur class that has developed a special predilection for what is, without a doubt, the new art of the 21st century—art fair art. Because a growing number of financial players increasingly see art as having permanent value, these masters of the universe have successfully redrawn the global art world (as well as its proliferating entertainments) in their plutocratic likeness. Among the signs of the new times is the newfound comfort many artists have developed with art entrepreneurship's boldface names. These are the Aby Rosens, Alberto Mugrabis, and Stefan Simchowitzes of the world. More powerful still are their growing legion of imitators.
Where artists were once predictably wary of such dealer-collectors, they are now extremely solicitous of their money—if the loads of sunny paintings and mirrored sculptures on view at this year's ABMB are any indication. Among the latter, there are Bertrand Lavier's transparent acrylic painting on mirror Harrogate (2014) at Kewenig and Doug Aitken's EXIT (large) (2014), a flashy take on the “Exit" sign, composed of powder coated steel and mirror at Regen Projects. Artists and their galleries shipped in scads more mirrored works and upbeat art fair art to match the Black Friday-like consumption that would follow. It did, in money-laden spades. More reason, it would seem, for artists up and down the art market ladder to scrap their critical inhibitions, stop worrying and love the M-bomb.
At ABMB 2014, that love officially became infatuation. Today, the 13-year-old fair can be said to specialize not just in blue chip art (everything from Basquiat and Bacon paintings to photo-based works byCindy Sherman and Richard Prince), but in a cheery brand of content-free stuff that actively caters to the tastes of the global collecting class. Handsome, glitzy, and insubstantial to the point of being as light as air, this kind of art perfectly patronizes the tastes of today's high net worth individuals. Not unlike the effects of 19th century academic painting on the French bourgeoisie, this newfangled art Pompier is designed to be overblown and insincere (or ironic, take your pick), yet hold or increase its value while providing, in turn, an exquisite reflection of the worldview of the new overclass. But what to do when the triumph of pretty pictures—sometimes extremely pretty pictures—leaves art in the lurch with regard to the globe's other 99.99 percent?
Inside the Miami Beach Convention Center, it was as if Ferguson and the Eric Garner verdict had never happened—though angry pilots did protest ABMB's longtime sponsor NetJets outside the fair entrance over planned cuts and shrinking benefits, and Ferguson-related protests sprang up elsewhere in the city. With the notable exception of the very few artworks that featured critical content—among them, Kendell Geers's police baton sculpture in the shape of a pentagram at Goodman Gallery and Ana Mendieta's wrenching video of a 1975 blood strewn performance at Lelong—the vast majority of objects on view at the fair flattered or directly reflected the superior, detached ideal of today's megarich. But like with the smooth, artificial academic painting of the 19th century, there are consequences to art fair art's frivolous disengagement from the world. Here's one in a golden nugget: beauty is passing, dumb is forever.
Besides Pop-inflected art fair tchotchkes by the usual suspects—Josh Smith (at Mnuchin), Cory Arcangel (at Team), and Sterling Ruby (at Xavier Hufkens)—veteran artists like Mel Bochner also got into the sales act with gusto. One of his dealers counted at least six chuckle-headed text paintings at the fair, while I spied two peppy colorful works from theBlah, Blah, Blah series (2008-2012) in the same aisle. Bjarne Melgaard, a purveyor of highly sexualized and misogynistic provocation, opted to show eight brightly hued primitive gestural paintings at Gavin Brown's booth—several resembling expressionistic smiley faces. Other artists and galleries making hay while the sun shone last weekend included Damien Hirst's bright, pharmaceutically-inspired sculptures at Paul Stolper, Sherrie Levine's suite of hanging colored mirrors at Paula Cooper, and a blithe graffiti canvas by the late Keith Haring at Edward Tyler Nahem.
Another indication that works at art fairs have literally thematized the idea of art as retail therapy were Eric Fischl's paintings of well-heeled buyers standing around perusing the displays at—where else?—art fairs (one such painting incredibly features a figure in front of an edition of Aitken's Exit (large), the very same one hung at the booth at Regen Projects). Works like these lead to a natural conclusion: artists across the board are as comfortable as luxury department store clerks with romancing the billfold. But the new art fair art is not just sales-savvy, it's cynical. Exhibit A is Arcangel's Going Negative/Lakes (2014), a flatscreen TV turned on its side. Its linguistic jiu-jitsu reads: “Fuck Negativity."
Of course, even a small Jeff Koons work is capable of encapsulating the artistic zeitgeist better than his legions of zombie children. His mirror piece at Gagosian's stand is not just the costly vanity piece that launched tens of thousands reflective objects, it is the perfect synecdoche for a vastly improved brand of strategic art that may have finally relegated contemporary art's critical power to the dustbin of history. In the words of New York magazine's Carl Swanson, Koons' vapid works routinely repeat the question that matters most in today's art world: “Who's the fairest collector of them all?"
But the last word on the material that dominated the floor of ABMB 13 goes to Rafael Ferrer, an underknown artist whose neon sign Red, White & Blue ARTFORHUM (1971/2014) (at Henrique Faria Fine Art) presciently antedates the use of this now ubiquitous material. More than four decades after it was conceived, the answer to Ferrer's implied question is all too obvious. Without the winners of a lopsided global economy and the artists who dutifully butter them up, the vast majority of the crap on view last week in Miami would not exist.
Four key insights into the modern luxury travel consumer, based on a new survey by Small Luxury Hotels of the World ™, completed by over 13,000 clients
What does the modern luxury traveller want? They want iPhone charging stations in their rooms, which they will stay in with their pets. And they are happy to make their own coffee – as long as it’s Nespresso.
A new survey by Small Luxury Hotels of the World ™ (SLH) completed by over 13,000 SLH customers worldwide reveals new trends within the luxury market. Italy has been identified as the most luxurious holiday destination, Chanel as the most popular luxury brand and free Wi-Fi was favoured over free breakfast in the majority of core markets.
“Today’s in-room Nespresso machine will possibly be tomorrow’s trouser press,” believes Paul Kerr, CEO of Small Luxury Hotels of the World “Luxury demands are always changing and we are in a perfect position to respond to the demands of our customers worldwide. This annual survey offers valuable insight into the varying demands in markets across the world.”
“ They are happy to make their own coffee – as long as it’s Nespresso ”
Favoured Destinations
When asked to specify their favourite luxury holiday destination, Italy and destinations within Italy reigned overall chosen by 13% of all respondents. France and destinations within France followed, representing 11.1%, with the Maldives taking third place, selected by 8%.
Australia, Latin America and the USA all opted for Paris as their favourite luxury holiday destination making it the stand-out ‘luxury’ city whereas China, Germany and the UK preferred the Maldives as their number one holiday destination.
iPod Docking station, S31 Sukhumvit Hotel Bangkok
In-Room Necessities
When picking their favourite in-room accessory, the majority of respondents (58%) opted for a Nespresso/ coffee machine, followed by an I-pod docking system (22.8%). In the minibar, the favourite brand overall was Coca-Cola which featured heavily across most core markets with the exception of the UK, Russia and Australia.
UK respondents opted for Bombay Sapphire as their favourite mini bar brand, Russian respondents for Evian whilst the Australians opted for Moët & Chandon.
Looking at the consumption of mini bar products, wine, beer and champagne were the top choice across all markets (33.5%) with the exception of Germany. The largest percentage of German respondents (38.7%) opted for soft drinks over spirits, snacks, and wine, beer and champagne.
“ Most markets opted for a Michelin star restaurant over a roof top bar ”
Service Desires
When picking one hotel attribute over another, most markets opted for a Michelin star restaurant over a roof top bar (51.5% vs 48.5%) with the exception of Germany and Russia (with 66.9% and 60% respectively opting for a roof top bar).
Across all markets, a knowledgeable hotel guide (or concierge) was selected over in-room destination guides (71.3% vs 28.7%) and adult-only hotels were preferred over child friendly hotels (77.4% vs 22.6%).
When booking a hotel, the majority of respondents preferred free Wi-fi access over complimentary breakfast (53.1% vs 46.9%) with the exception of the UK and German respondents who preferred free breakfast over free Wi-fi (55.4% and 58.4% respectively).
When picking a luxury hotel, the most important characteristic was ‘character/charm’ selected by 59.6% of all respondents, followed by ‘five star facilities’ (28%). Respondents from China and Hong Kong however opted for ‘personal experiences’ as their second most important attribute whilst Russian and German respondents chose ‘privacy/intimacy.
ABaC Restaurant and Hotel, Barcelona
Feline Friends
Finally when looking at luxury travel with pets, 7.3% of those surveyed said that they would travel with their pet whenever possible. 15.1 % said that they would be willing to pay extra for their pets to be pampered, with the top pet pampering items identified by respondents included luxury bedding and food (14.1% vs 11.2%) and pet grooming (7.9%).
When asked what luxuries their pet might enjoy at a luxury hotel, the responses were varied with one Chinese dog lover suggesting ‘pata negra ham and caviar’.
Ralph Lauren’s restaurant “Ralph’s”, all-American style in the City of Light.
Ralph’s is the all-American restaurant opened by Ralph Lauren three years ago inside his elaborately appointed new store on the Boulevard St.-Germain, his second after the original RL Restaurant opened in Chicago in 1999. His success in Paris has not exactly been a secret. Reservations can be hard to come by, ever since the French accepted the designer, who took great pains to renovate the Left Bank building respectfully and has committed millions of dollars to the restoration of the amphitheater of a landmark arts school nearby, as one of their own.
The place is a 17th-century town house that looks like fancy French stables on the inside, and is full nearly every night with Parisians who’ve become obsessed with elements of contemporary American foodie culture, like artisanal cocktails, brunch and Brooklyn. The seats overlook a courtyard where the tables and iron garden chairs are arranged under enormous canvas market umbrellas around a backdrop of exotic greenery, rose bushes, topiary and taxidermy. Dining at Ralph’s is a very international experience, though people go there to experience a meal in a restaurant that is designed by an American fashion icon, with steaks that come from cows raised on Mr. Lauren’s Double RL ranch in Colorado. Some customer reviews on Trip Advisor and Yelp note that Ralph’s serves the best hamburger in Paris, and even Mr. Lauren has said that he goes to Ralph’s in Paris for the burgers.
Morris Louis's "Beta Alpha," 1961, at the Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery
Lisson Gallery booth / MCH Messe Schweiz (Basel)
“I think the art market is very bullish right now,” says Lisa Schiff, New York–based art adviser, minutes before the VVIP opening of the 44th edition of Art Basel on Tuesday morning. She is soon proven right: Strong sales began to be reported in the very first hours of the fair’s preview. The Messe’s two floors have been crackling with excitement since, as collectors includingDon and Mera Rubell, Marty Margulies, Uli and Rita Sigg, and Eli and Edythe Broad make the rounds.
Unsurprisingly, works by artists currently featured in Venice are well represented. The London dealer Alison Jacques — who has just entered the fair’s main section, having previously shown at Statements and Feature — sold a work by the late surrealist painter Dorothea Tanning (featured in Massimiliano Gioni’s “Encyclopedic Palace” exhibition at the Arsenale in Venice) for $150,000. Jacques says she is glad to see an increasing interest in historical works by female artists (her gallery’s particular area of expertise). She also sold work by the Viennese feministBirgit Jürgenssen, and on Tuesday had a model by Brazilian legend Lygia Clark, priced at $1.5 million, on reserve.
Klosterfelde, the Berlin gallery, is both capitalizing on the success of Matt Mullican’s installation in the Gioni show and breaking a new record: In the Unlimited section, dedicated to “outsized” works, the gallery is showing the artist’s “Two into One becomes Three,” 2011. Measuring 22 by 7 meters, it is the largest painting ever presented in this part of the fair.
Over at Hauser & Wirth, an anthropomorphic figure by the recently “rediscovered” Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn — another hit at the Arsenale — sold for 550,000 CHF to a European collector. The booth also features an expressionist “Samson” painting from 1983 by Maria Lassnig, winner (together with Marisa Merz) of a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at this year’s Biennale.
Three years ago, Hauser & Wirth moved from the upstairs section at Basel, dedicated to more contemporary galleries, to the ground floor, traditionally the turf of dealers focused on the modern. As Neil Wenman, its London director, explains, the shift made sense for a gallery so involved in the secondary market. It also made it easier for Hauser & Wirth to bridge different periods at Basel — as in the booth’s juxtaposition of Paul McCarthy’s 2012 bronze sculpture “White Snow #3” (priced at $2.8 million) with Willem de Kooning’s 1975 “Untitled III” (price undisclosed).
Others have now followed suit, with Lisson Gallery, White Cube, and Metro Pictures all joining the downstairs crew. The change — the most significant in the fair’s layout since 2007 — seems to respond to buyers’ current appetite for the safer investments represented by blue chip pieces. “Being on the ground floor, we have seen different types of collectors who are interested in works at a higher price point,” says Alex Logsdail, the international director of the London-based Lisson Gallery.
A signature “mirror” piece by Anish Kapoor, “Parabolic Twist,” 2013 (£700,000), was among the first to go at Lisson during the preview. Confirming the trend, a large sculpture by Anthony Caro sold at London’s Annely Juda for £400,000, and Sprüth Magers of Berlin sold aCindy Sherman “Untitled Film Still” from 1979, three George Condo paintings priced from $80,000 to $550,000, and a 2013 Barbara Kruger digital print on vinyl for $250,000.
The Kruger’s message sums up how closely such works match the demand: “Made For You.”
The elaborately tiled City Hall subway station in New York City — still extant but now closed to the public, alas — used the Guastavino touch to convince wary city dwellers to head underground for a train trip.
Michael Freeman/National Buildling Museum
A D.C. museum and MIT professor John Ochsendorf want you to spend some time looking up — to see soaring, vaulted tile ceilings built by a father-son team who came to this country from Spain in the late 1800s and left their mark on some of America's most important public spaces.
These ceilings grace landmarks that include state capitols, Grand Central Terminal and Carnegie Hall — as well as some more ordinary buildings. One of them is Engine Number 3, a small brick firehouse not far from the Capitol Building — where yes, they still slide down one of those shiny brass poles. It's one of the oldest fire stations in the District of Columbia.
A closeup of the bar in New York City's Vanderbilt Hotel shows the intricate detail of the Guastavino Company's elegant ceiling work.
Michael Freeman/National Building Museum
YouTube
Recreating A Guastavino Vault
Built in 1916, the firehouse has bright red doors, gleaming trucks and a narrow, gently arched ceiling over the entryway. The underside of the arch is lined with white tiles arranged in a ziggy-zaggy herringbone pattern.
Firefighter Andre Burns is less than impressed. But that little entryway ceiling has some distinctive touches — the tiles, the pattern — that are being noticed with no little respect at the nearby National Building Museum.
There, the exhibition Palaces For the People: Guastavino and America's Great Public Spaces is an impressive display. Photographs, diagrams, drawings and scale models show the beauty and breadth of the work work of the Guastavino family — some one thousand vaults and domes and ceilings in 40 states.
One of the most gorgeous examples of Guastavino skill was for the very first subway line in New York City. MIT's Ochsendorf, who curated the Building Museum exhibit, says the City Hall Station featured chandeliers and skylights and green, tan and cream-colored tilework in intricate patterns. "The Mona Lisa of subway stations," someone once observed.
"It was called an underground cathedral when it opened in 1904," Ochsendorf says. "The public was afraid to go underground at that time, and so these vaults and this beautiful, decorative, colorful ceiling really helped people feel comfortable in a grand space below the city."
A Guastavino ceiling in the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
Michael Freeman/National Building Museum
The City Hall subway station hasn't been used for 60 years. But Ochsendorf says the vaulting is in good condition — and color photographs make you itch to go underground to see for yourself.
What Rafael and Rafael Guastavino did — yes, dad and son had the same first name — was to take Old World building techniques they'd learned in Barcelona and update them for the New World. They were like master masons transported here from the Gothic era, men who knew how to build the correct shapes to make their spaces stand up and stay incredibly durable, strong and long-lasting.
Their techniques and their talents were used by leading architects of their day.
"Names like Cass Gilbert and Charles McKim, Richard Morris Hunt — they would design the building, their name was on the building, but on their plans and drawings they would write 'Guastavino here,'" Ochsendorf says. "And the Guastavino Company would come in. They would really do the detailed design of these vaults, and the architects trusted them — because they were masters — to do what was best."
Ochsendorf, who teaches architecture and engineering at MIT, says at the peak of its success, the Guastavino Company had offices in 12 cities across the country.
"In 1910 alone, I've learned in my research, they were building 100 buildings at once, up and down the East Coast," Oschsendorf says. "Major domes in Philadelphia and New York and Washington and Pittsburgh — it's almost unfathomable today that a construction company would be working on a hundred buildings at once."
The Guastavino touch also extened to palaces of a more private sort. Pictured here is the entrance hall of the famous Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C.
Michael Freeman/National Building Museum
Clearly the time was ripe. And their timing was impeccable. America was in a building boom. Fires were gutting cities made of wood. When the time came to rebuild, nobody built it better than the Guastavinos.
One gallery at the National Building Museum reveals the precision and craftsmanship of their work. It's a cross-section reproduction of the fireproof vaulted ceiling they did in 1889 at the Boston Public Library. It was their first major public building.
Thin, thin ceramic tiles, set in cement mortar and layered — five layers, one on top of another like an exotic cake. With no support from below for the soaring ceiling, architect Charles McKim was worried. Would the vault hold? He had the Guastavinos pile more than 500 pounds per square foot on top of their tiled arch to test its strength.
"They would load bricks on top of it and see how much it could support," Oschsendorf says. "It held something like 12,000 pounds."
Think You've Seen A Guastavino Vault?
Take a picture and add it to NPR's Flickr pool. We'll ask MIT's John Ochsendorf to have a look.
Public Spaces, Private Spaces ... Forgotten Spaces?
The Guastavinos designed stunning private spaces, too, for Rockefellers, Astors and Vanderbilts. Ochsendorf is still on the prowl for undiscovered Guastavinos. He's inviting everyone to join the hunt — to look for artistically placed thin, colored tile, arranged in vaults, and to let him know what they find. He thinks the work should be better known.
"People walk into a building and they say, 'Ah — the windows are Tiffany,'" Ochsendorf says. "We want to get to the point where they say, 'The windows are Tiffany, and the ceilings are Guastavino.' So we're — we're getting there."
On a little drive around D.C., we pass one of the Federal City's icons.
"There's an underground driveway, and there's an arch," Ochsendorf points out. "And behind that stone arch is a Guastavino vault. At the entrance to the U.S. Supreme Court!
"Honestly," he says excitedly, "it's always a discovery."
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